I got the power

I was happy and quite surprised to see the powers that be at WNBA heeded my advice and moved their playoffs from NBA TV to ESPN2. It was a good thing I said something, too, because thanks to me, the world got to see another outstanding women's basketball game.
The Silver Stars beat the Sparks 76-72 Sunday afternoon in the third and deciding game of the Western Conference Finals. My girl Becky Hammon turned in one of the clutch performances in the league's history, scoring 35 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
Candace Parker is the real deal. Delisha Milton-Jones is woefully under-rated and Lisa Leslie is past her prime. I was a little disappointed in Michael Cooper's coaching as well. Badly in need of anyone to knock down a perimeter shot, he forgot about Sidney Spencer, one of the league's top shooters who never took off her warmups.
I was quite proud of my Silver Stars, though. In addition to Hammon, who single-handedly kept the team in the game in the first half, the rest of the team showed guts and grit until Sophia Young finally found her game in the fourth quarter.
I thought the game was good, although the play wasn't great. It was intense and competitive, though, which made it quite entertaining.
It could've been more entertaining if the announcing had been up to the standards of the play. I'm usually a Doris Burke fan, but not on this day. It seemed she was downright biased toward Los Angeles, often-times pleading with the Sparks to make shots.
Burke and her partner went almost the entire game before finally mentioning that two of San Antonio's key bench players were injured on Saturday and were not available for Sunday's finale. The Silver Stars don't have a deep bench to begin with so these injuries were huge. To not even mention it was simply a horrible job of announcing.
Also, I've heard Burke often point out how good officials don't blow the whistle late in tight games, allowing the players to decide the outcome. Yet, on this day, she was begging for the refs to call a ticky-tack offensive foul on Hammon.
She became frustrated and almost angry when Hammon wasn't call for a foul. The disappointment was still etched on her face when she was forced to talk about San Antonio after the game.
I don't know if she's doing the finals but hopefully she can turn some of her love for Candace Parker into at least appreciation for some of the other players in the league. Of course, her other love affair in the league is Detroit's Deanna Nolan.
Oh well, I won't let biased announcing spoil what has been a great playoff season in the WNBA. I'm just happy I was able to get it moved to national television.